Useless facts

[KarlMarx]

The 10 largest asteroids and their sizes in kilometers
Ceres - 457
Pallas - 262
Vesta - 251
Hygiea - 215
Davida - 169
Interamnia - 167
Europa - 156 (which, coincidentally shares a name with one of Jupiter's moons)
Eunomia - 136
Sylvia - 135
Psyche - 132

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

According to "they", and we know how "they" are...

9% of Americans skip breakfast daily.
16% of Americans have forgotten their own wedding anniversary.
20% of American women consider their parents to be their best friends.
29% of Americans ignore RSVP.
35% of Americans give to charity at least once a month.
45% of Americans believe in ghosts.
58% of Americans have called into work sick when they weren't at least once.
59% of Americans consider themselves average looking.
62% of Americans pop their zits.
71% of Americans can drive a stick shift.
72% of Americans eavesdrop.
82% of Americans believe in an afterlife.
85% of American men don't use the slit in their underwear.
90% of Americans use an alarm clock.

And just for good measure:

Snickers is America's most popular candy bar.

 

[KarlMarx]

According to "they", and we know how "they" are...

29% of Americans ignore RSVP.

And most of them are my relatives and friends

 

[KarlMarx]

The Great Pyramid in Egypt is the only surving wonder of the "7 wonders of the world"

Built about 2570 BC
Height 481 feet
Approximately 2,300,000 blocks

Blocks vary in weight from 2 to 70 tons, the majority of which are about 30 tons

 

[Joz]

At age 47, the Rolling Stones' bassist, Bill Wyman, began a relationship with 13-year old Mandy Smith, with her mother's blessing. Six years later, they were married, but the marriage only lasted a year. Not long after, Bill's 30-year-old son Stephen married Mandy's mother, age 46. That made Stephen a stepfather to his former stepmother. If Bill and Mandy had remained married, Stephen would have been his father's father-in-law and his own grandpa.

At the tender age of 7, the multi-award-winning composer and pianist Marvin Hamlisch ("The Way We Were," "The Sting") was one of the youngest students ever admitted to the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York City.

Bill Haley and the Comets, one of rock and roll's pioneer groups actually began their career's as Bill Haley's Saddle Pals - a country music act.

Brian Setzer, of the Brian Setzer Orchestra, started out in a garage band called Merengue.

Beethoven's Fifth, was the first symphony to include trombones.

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

Julia Roberts first movie role was the uncredited part of Babs in the sex farce "Firehouse".

Brad Pitt's first appearance in a movie was as a waiter in "No Man's Land".

Cuba Gooding Jr's first movie credit was Boy Getting Haircut in "Coming to America".

Kevin Costner's first movie role was as Ed in "Chasing Dreams". That same year, he played Frat Boy #1 in Ron Howard's "Night Shift".

Pro wrestlers Kevin and Kerry Von Erich both auditioned for the role of Ivan Drago in "Rocky 4", the part that eventually went to Dolph Lundgren.

Selma Blair auditioned for the part of Buffy in the TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Sarah Michelle Gellar auditioned for the part of Buffy, was offered the role of Cordelia, but was eventually given the part of Buffy.

Sylvester Stallone was originally cast in the lead role for "Beverly Hills Cop". When Stallone insisted on making changes to the script, he was dropped and the role was given to Eddie Murphy. Stallone took his version of the BHC script and made the movie "Cobra".

 

[Adam's Apple]

Jesus was nailed to the cross; the two thieves were tied to their crosses with rope.

Napoleon's horse was named Marengo.

Sleeping Beauty slept for 100 years.

Paul Revere was a silversmith and made George Washington's false teeth.

All Chinese brides wear red.

Betty Davis turned down the role of Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind"; Robert Redford turned down Dustin Hoffman's role in "The Graduate".

The CA license plate of Jack LaLanne reads "REDUCE"; the CA license plate of Lawrence Welk read "A1ANA2".

The U.S. has had five sets of Presidents with the same last name: John and John Quincy Adams; William H. and Benjamin Harrison; Andrew and Lyndon Baines Johnson; Theodore and Franklin Delano Roosevelt; George H.W. and George W. Bush. Of this group, only the Johnsons were not related.

The sole inscription on the tablet held by the Statue of Liberty reads: July 4, 1776.

The Secret Service code name for JFK was Lancer; for Jackie, Lace; for Caroline, Lyric, and for John John, Lark.

 

[Adam's Apple]

Forgot a couple.

The nicknames of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were "Little Boy" and "Fat Man".

The number of Americans killed as a result of the Pearl Harbor attack was 2,388.

 

[KarlMarx]

In the movie "Star Wars", the planet that Luke Skywalker comes from, "Tatooine" sounds very similar to the name of the Tunisian city of "Tataouine". One of the filming locations for Episodes I, II, III and IV, especially the "Tatooine" sequences, was Tunisia.

Later in his life, Alec Guinness (the original Obi Wan Kenobi) always recalled the experience of making the movie as a bad one and consistently claimed that it was his idea to have his character killed in the first film, so he "wouldn't have to carry on saying these rubbish lines".

James Caan, Al Pacino and Burt Reynolds turned down the role of Han Solo.

George Lucas based the character of Han Solo on his friend, director Francis Ford Coppola.

Mel Blanc auditioned for the voice of C-3PO.

George Lucas originally wanted Orson Welles to do Darth Vader's voice, but decided against it, feeling that Welles' voice would be too recognisable.

James Earl Jones supplied the voice of Darth Vader, but specifically requested that he not be credited. At the time, the reason he cited was that he felt he had not done enough work to get the billing, but he later admitted that he didn't want his name associated with the film because he was still an up-and-coming actor, and didn't want to be typecast

20th Century Fox was so sure Star Wars was going to be a disaster that they came within a matter of days of selling off their stake in the film as a tax shelter. Positive feedback from an advanced screening made them change their minds, and the profits from the film ended up saving the studio from bankruptcy.

The Millennium Falcon was originally modeled after a hamburger with an olive next to it.

The word "Jedi" is derived from the Japanese words "Jidai Geki" which translate as "period drama."

George Lucas waived the normal writer/director fee and asked for a mere $175,000 plus 40% of the merchandising rights. Studio executives, seeing little if any profit from such merchandise, agreed.

 

[KarlMarx]

The ancient Egyptians invented the first disposable tampons made from softened papyrus. The ancient Greeks invented tampons made from lint wrapped around a small piece of wood, recorded in writing by Hippocrates in the fifth century B.C. Other materials used for the first tampons have included: wool, paper, vegetable fibers, sponges, grass, and later cotton.

In 1929, the modern tampon (with applicator) was first invented and patented by Doctor Earle Haas who wanted to invent a tampon that could be effectively mass produced. Earle Haas filed for his first tampon patent on November 19, 1931. His patent description was for a "catamenial device," derived from the Greek word for monthly. He later trademarked Tampax as the brandname for his tampon product.

Gertrude Tendrich founded the Tampax company for the mass production of tampons after buying the patent and trademark rights from Earle Haas.

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

Another Star Wars tidbit:

Harrison Ford had essentially given up on an acting career and was working as a carpenter. He had a job that happened to put him near George Lucas' office when Lucas was auditioning an actor for the part of Han Solo. When the other actor was done, Lucas asked Ford if he would be interested in coming in for an audition. The actor that had come in for the audition: Richard Dreyfuss.

 

[American Horse]

The Zip Code 12345 is assigned to General Electric in Schenectady, New York.
The area code 321 is assigned to the part of Florida containing the Kennedy Space Center.

 

[American Horse]

Prior to the age of Political Correctness the term gender was generally used in social or cultural contexts, and as a faculty of grammar for noun and pronoun endings, as distinguished from biological contexts. Beginning in the 1960s and 70s it began to be used as a euphemism for the sex of a human being, with that now being by far the most common usage in conversational context.